Question of the weekRBMA Share For 2012 year-to-date, in what range does your adjusted (net) collection percentage fall? Click here to take the poll.

Click here to see the results from the last Hot Topics poll: How long has it been since your group last increased its fee schedule?

Streamline Your Radiology WorkflowWith PowerScribe® 360, radiology departments can be confident they are using leading-edge technology designed to support best practice and work seamlessly with leading RIS/PACS solutions. PowerScribe 360 enables continuous quality improvement by streamlining the reporting delivery cycle and communicating relevant data through speech recognition, critical test results management, and performance analysis.

Climb Mount Everest before the RBMA Fall Educational ConferenceRBMA Share At times, being a leader and dealing with group dynamics can be like climbing Mount Everest. Join Joseph P. White, MBA, CPA, for a half-day pre-conference session that will engage students in role playing one of five roles on an expedition team of hikers attempting to summit the mountain. Individuals must learn to strategize, analyze and communicate within their team to ultimately climb through five camps over six simulated days and successfully reach the top. This exercise will teach teams how to deal with group dynamics and expose the challenges and negative consequences that can occur if they fail to communicate and analyze as a team.

Managers are encouraged to attend with their physicians, forming a team that will test and reinforce how to best lead a practice from the top. Special team pricing is available.

Last week to participate in the RBMA mini-Survey on steerageRBMA Share Our members report that, with increasing use of radiology benefit managers (RBMs), they are experiencing increasing steerage of patients to other facilities. Steerage is defined for our current mini-Survey as the active or passive direction of patients referred for imaging services by RBMs or commercial insurers.

All members are invited to participate in RBMA's Patient Steerage mini-Survey. The mini-Survey collects information on whether and when steerage occurs, its impact on business operations and procedure volumes, and characteristics of patients being steered to specific facilities.

Completion of the mini-Survey should require no more than 15 minutes of your time. The mini-Survey will be open for participation until Sept. 28.

Secure a More Profitable FutureFrom revenue cycle management and IT, to consulting and practice management; HIS will ensure improved stability and profitability for your radiology practice. It is our client-centric partnership model that has made HIS a true partner for improved profitability and success. MORE

Join RBMA by Oct. 15 and get 15 months of membership for the price of 12RBMA Share Encourage your colleagues to join RBMA and receive three months FREE. In addition they will qualify to receive the RBMA Briefcase — a brief sample of RBMA benefits to use immediately.

The digital edition of the September/October RBMA Bulletin is available onlineRBMA Share The September/October issue of the RBMA Bulletin focuses on financial management and compliance. Now you can read the most current issue of the RBMA Bulletin in any setting or environment!

Read the printed copy that will arrive in your mailbox — anywhere, anytime, at your leisure. No electricity or WiFi required!

On the Web, click on the Bulletin cover graphic to download a complete pdf version of this issue of the RBMA Bulletin. (Only recommended for those with a high-speed Internet connection.)

Enjoy the online version by clicking on each story listed. Each story will appear on a Web page.

View the magazine in its new digital format that includes photos, images and links to key authors and advertisers.

Download the new digital RBMA Bulletin to your PC/Mac for offline reading.

Save the date for RBMA's new 2013 Coding Academy CourseRBMA Share Plan to attend RBMA's 2013 Coding Academy Course. In an all-new format, the Coding Academy will take place over two days. You can attend one or both days. Watch for details to come.

Start attracting new patients by tapping into the rapidly growing, uninsured, self-pay market. With 16.7% of the country uninsured and even more trapped in high-deductible health plans, having affordable pricing available with a listing on Save On Medical helps you get the attention of captive patients ready to make appointments. To learn more, visit: www.saveonmedical.comCall: (631) 930-5231
Email: marketing@saveonmedical.com

RevSpring acquires BestBillPSC Info Group Share RevSpring is pleased to announce the acquisition of BestBill, a Phoenix-based innovative billing and payment technology provider. BestBill was recognized by Inc. Magazine in 2012 as one of the fastest-growing private companies for the fifth year.More

Radiology group taps McKesson's expertise in local payor marketMcKesson Share The McKesson Revenue Management Solutions team's knowledge of the New York State payor market has led Binghamton, N.Y.- based Park Avenue Associates in Radiology, PC, to select RMS for coding and billing services for its radiology physician group and imaging centers.More

Liking it or not, states prepare for health lawThe New York Times Share Like many Republican governors, Jan Brewer of Arizona is a stinging critic of President Obama's healthcare law. When the Supreme Court upheld it in June, she called the ruling "an overreaching and unaffordable assault on states' rights and individual liberty." Yet the Brewer administration is quietly designing an insurance exchange — one of the most essential and controversial requirements of the law. More

ACR fights flawed policyImaging Economics Share When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released proposed rule changes for the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, the medical imaging community was up in arms about several changes made to the multiple procedural payment reduction rule. In the 2012 proposed fee schedule, CMS suggested a 50 percent MPPR to the professional component for CT, MR, and ultrasound services provided by one or more physicians in the same group practice furnishing services to the same patient in the same session. More

The benefits of teleradiology as practice supportDiagnostic Imaging (registration required) Share For many radiology groups, caution still exists when considering aligning with a teleradiology practice. This uncertainty ranges from a perceived threat to their business, to quality assurance and access concerns. While there are a variety of issues that could serve as potential roadblocks, in reality, teleradiology offers tangible advantages, such as reduced overhead, improved morale and the capacity to grow a practice.More

Retail venues could boost mammo screening ratesAunt Minnie (registration required) Share Offering mammography screening services at retail healthcare locations such as pharmacies could boost women's adherence to screening guidelines, according to a new study published in Academic Radiology. And women are interested in having access to this kind of option, the researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital found.
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Record security 'only as good as weakest link'Health Imaging Share Working on health information exchange led Paul Tuten, PhD, senior consultant at the State HIE Program of the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, to quickly recognize that trust and, by extension, privacy and security, is only as good as the weakest link in the chain of exchange. "Getting these issues right is very important." Tuten was one of several speakers who participated in the National eHealth Collaborative's program on Increasing Medical Record Security.More

IOM touts familiar concerns, puts figure on wasteImaging Biz Share Recommendations from the Institute of Medicine earlier this month may have sounded familiar to radiologists and radiology practice directors. The 2,000-word report — entitled "Best Care at Lower Cost" — never mentions imaging, but the goals and sentiments have been on the radiology radar for a long time. In short, the IOM report contends that the healthcare system is drowning in data, and getting a handle on this information through better technology must be a top priority.More